Sample Pitch #1

March 6, 2011

Mary Jane Copps

Picking up where we left off last week, we’re going to design phone pitches for Claudina Whisken, Director of Business Development, Thomas International Maritimes. We’ll create a pitch for each of the three categories of cold calls and discuss the pros and cons of each. I hope you take a few moments to share your thoughts and impressions!

The first category of cold call is the one where it is not necessary to reach the person – you are going to leave an energetic, precise message that includes a call to action. This is ideal for getting information out on an upcoming event, or when you are contacting people you already know with new information.

In Claudina’s case, if she has an accurate contact list of human resource executives that includes both phone numbers and email addresses, this approach could help raise the profile of Thomas International quickly, create a bit of a buzz and, if the message reaches someone in immediate need (which it always does – again one of the fun things about sales … the magic of timing!) she will end up with potential clients calling her.

Keeping in mind that I’m only working with surface knowledge of Thomas International Maritimes, here’s a sample of what the pitch might sound like:

“Hi Susan Smith. This is Claudina Whisken. I’m the Maritime Director of Thomas International, a leading global supplier of on-demand behavioural and aptitude assessment applications. We work with HR executives helping them to identify and retain ideal employees, always saving them both time and money. Our approach is unique and I’d love to meet with you and discuss it in more detail but first I’m going to take the liberty of emailing you some information to review.

If you wish to call me as a result of this message, please do. You can reach me at xxx-xxxx. Otherwise, look for me in your inbox and I’ll follow up with you later this month.”

The advantages of this approach are:

The pitch takes approximately 20 seconds so, even if the person is not at all interested, they will not be offended by the call.

“I’m going to take the liberty”, is a polite way of apologizing ahead of time if the person sees unsolicited email as intrusive. It illustrates Claudina’s respect for the individual she is calling.

Claudina can reach out to a lot of people in this way in a very short period of time. In an hour, she could have 10 email packages out to her target market.

The disadvantages of this approach:

Although Claudina will be getting information out, she is not yet building relationships.

This puts a lot of pressure on the email package. Because Claudina hasn’t spoken to the recipients, she can’t target her email message to their specific needs, so she must make sure that the message she sends out is extremely powerful and motivating.

It is difficult to follow up on unsolicited information. When she begins her call backs at the end of the month, she will be limited to one or two messages. You can’t really “chase” people who did not request information from you in the first place.

And I’m sure there are other pros and cons I haven’t listed here. It would be great to hear your reaction and get your analysis.

Next week we’ll look at a pitch for Claudina that focuses on getting the face-to-face meeting.

And in the weeks ahead, I’m going to examine how vulnerability, both yours and that of your potential client, plays a role in cold calling.

Happy phonework everyone!

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